Means for producing multicolor printing rolls



J. (Iv HAKIM July 5, 1932.

Filed March 29,

Patented July 5,' 1932 i131;

Y lj {UNITED sTATEs rAr :mi ,OFFICEi JOSEPH 0, Hamilton nonoxnmnnw JERSEY MEANS nonrnonuonve MULTICOLOR 93mm nous,

7 1 Application filed Marches, 1930.- Serial No. 440,013.

This invention relates to the art of printing by means of engraved rollers,such rollers being suitable for use in printing imulti-color designs and also for embossing; and water- 5 marking paper. I

While the'invention is capable general use, it is particularly'directed toithe successiv'e-or repeated printing at regular intervals and in multicolor, of a design on elongated sheets of material such as textile fabrics,wall paper or thelike, and in this connection it is an object of the invention to provide a novel means for engraving the printing rollers to assure that each successive reproduction of thecomplete design willbe an exact duplicate ofthe preceding reproduction thereof. I With the foregoing and other objectsin view, the invention consists in the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement' of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and defined in the appended claim.- 4 j Inthe drawing, wherein like characters of reference denote correspondingparts in the different views v r Figure 1 is a side elevation of a mechanism constructed inaccordance with the invention. Figure 2 is a topplan view of said mecha nism; and 1 7 7 Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view through said mechanism on the line 3 of According to the present invention," a number of photographic negatives are made of the complete design that is to, be reproduced, one negative for each diflerent color that is tobe employed in printing the design. These negatives then are treatedin any suitable negatives, all portions of the design except manner so that only that portion'of thedesign those portions that are to appear in yellow are deleted, and from the third negative all portions:.of the design are deleted except those portions that are to.;appear ingreen. The negatives of thedifierent portions of the design thenare photographically reproduced on flat lithographic vplates, respectively,:1n any suitable or desired manner,*all of the foregoing being old'in the art and the present invention beginning with the production of the lithographic plates. In other words, the present invention resides essentially in effecting a transfer of ink from each lithographic plate directly to a printing rollerv by rollingthe' latter under pressure over the plate and thereafter treat- 1 ing the roller in an acid bath in known man ner to effect etching of the roller surface sur rounding. the portion, of the. design appear+ ingthereon in ink, thereby to produce what is known as an engraved roller suitablerto re:- ceive ink-V for printing purposes. I If thedesign thatis to be printed is not intended-to be continuous, but is to be printed at spaced intervals it is not essential :that the circumferenceiof the rollers correspond to'the width of the design. Itis, however, a feature of the present'invention' tomake the V p circumference of the rollers correspond exactly to one another and-to thewidth of the design in instances-where a design is to be printed continuously on an elongated sheet,

thus to insure exact register of the difierent portions of thecomple'te design printed from sald rollers, assuring of course proper .ad-

justment ofthe rollers i-with'respectftoxone another when'placed in the printing.machine.- 'Referring nowto the mechanism; illustrated in the accompanyingdrawingfor effecting transfer of a designv from a lithographic plate to a printing roller, in accordance with this inventioinA designates generally a. supporting frame on which 'is mounted a' bed plate 10 and which; supports, at each side of said bedplate, a;trackway ll andlarack 12- provided, respectively, in any suitable or desiredimannerpl; i1. A carriage B of substantially inverted Us shapelisprovided with rollers-1 13 hichcooperate with the trackways 11 whereby said carriage is mounted on the frame A for travel over the bed plate 10, and to effect such travel of said carriage same is provided with a shaft 14 equipped with pinions 15 disposed in mesh with the teeth of the racks 12, and a suitable handle 16 is provided for rotating said shaft.

The carriage B-carries a printing vroller supporting frame. designated generally as C which is vertically adjustable relative to said carriage. That is to say, the carriage B is inclusive at each sidethereof bracket arms 17 in which rack bars18 are mounted for vertical sliding adjustment, said rack bars having brackets 19 in which are adapted to be secured bearing blocks20 to receive the usual projecting shaftielements at the ends of the printing'roller designated as 21, where by said roller is adapted to be supported for rotation by the carriage B. e

, For effecting verticaladjustments ofthe roller carrying rack bars 18, a shaft 22 is suitably journaled in the carriage and on said shaft are secured pinions 23 disposed in mesh with the teeth of said rack bars, any suitable means such as a handle 24 on saidshaft being provided for rotating same.

Inthe use of the foregoing mechanism, an inked lithographic plate designated as25 is placed upon thebed plate 10 and a printing roller 21 is mounted onithe' carriage B inthe manner stated. -By means of the hande 16 the carriage B theniis moved to cause the roller 21 to roll over said lithographic plate, and by means oftheihandle 24; the frame 0 is depressed to cause the roller to bear with a desired pressure againstsaid plate during its travel over thesame, Thus, a transfer of ink from the plate 25 to said roller 21 is effected, and bythen removing the roller 21 and etch v ing same in a known manner to cause the-de sign appearing in ink thereon to stand out in relief, an exact reproduction on the roller of the design on the lithographic plate is obtained, the roller thereby being rendered suitable for printing purposes.

When the design on one of the plates, 25 has been transferred to one of the rollers 21, a second lithographic plate is placed on the bed plate 10 in lieu of the'first lithographic plate and another roller is mounted on the carriage B. The design transfer operation described in connection with the first plate 25 and roller 21 then is repeated to efiect a reproduction of the design on the second plate onto the second roller, and this operation is repeated for each of the other lithographic plates and rollers, after which the several rollers are assembled in aprinting machine and properly adjusted so that each successive roller will fill ina vacant portion of the designon a sheet as the latter is moved past (the respective rollers, the design being completed when the last roller has been passed. By providing rollers 21 of a circumference corresponding exactly to the width of the'design, and by transferring the design portions of the respective lithographic plates directly to the respective rollers, exact registration of the different portions ofthe design printed from said rollers and a perfect continuous reproduction of the complete design is as sure d, and this is especially true due to the holding of the rollers against the lithographic plates under considerable pressure during rolling of said rollers over said plates, whereby a'sharp outline ofeach plate design is caused to be reproducedon its related roller.

If desired, any suitable means may be employed' to assure that each successive lithographic plate shall be disposed on the bed plate 10' in exactly the same position as its predecessor, and that each successive roller shallbe disposed on the carriage B in exactly the same position as its predecessor, but this is not essential-inasmuch as the" rollers ordinarily are adjustable in the printing machine to effect registration ofthe difierent portions of the design printed from therespective rollers.

lVith out further description it is thought that the features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and it will of course beunderstood that changes 'irrthe form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention and scope" of the appended claim. I v I claim:

' 'Mechanismfor use in effecting transfer of a design from a lithographic plate to a printing roller comprising a bed structure on which the lithographic plate is adapted to be supported, a cariiagemounted on said bed structure for movement with respect thereto over a lithographic plate supported thereon, and'means for mountinga printing roller on said carriage for vertical adjustment with respect thereto whereby the pressure of the roller against the lithographicplate during movement of the carriage over the bed structure may be variably predetermined, said means comprising apair of rack bars mounted on'the carriage for vertical adjustments,-

means for vertically adjusting said rack bars, and brackets carriedby said rack bars, respectively,xfor.the reception ofbearing blocks for the printing roller, each bracket being open at one side to facilitate the insertion and removal" of the bearing blocks thereby to facilitate the changing of the printing rollers.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature,

JOSEPH o. HAKIM. 

